


We Live In Isolation

by Fatbottombarnes



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Bucky has no reason to hate Darcy, Bucky is loud and annoying, Bucky is not quiet, Darcy Lewis is Steve's Best Friend, Darcy Lewis's Taser, Darcy Lewis-centric, Darcy is Chaotic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, He just does because hes kinda an asshole, I made myself cry with the angst btw, Mutual Pining, Natasha Romanov Feels, Past Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve, Slow Burn, Steve and Natasha low key flirt, Steve loves Natasha with his entire soul, WinterShock - Freeform, romanogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23798431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fatbottombarnes/pseuds/Fatbottombarnes
Summary: Covid-19.Darcy needs a place to stay because she has asthma and Jane refuses to be a good friend and stay home- well, she has to work. Steve offers his two-bed apartment, that he won't be using due to a mission in Europe.Only it's with the only person on the plant that hates her, James Barnes. But she needs a place and she's willing to isolate with an assassin, heck, maybe he'll kill her and she won't have to pay her student loans.But she learns that Bucky is a great cook, an even better dancer, and loves to place a bet- especially when it comes to when Steve will finally make a move on his own ex, Natasha. Odd as it may seem, Bucky kinda likes them two together, in fact, Darcy realises that he ships Steve x Nat.Natasha and Steve are stuck in London, a small apartment and ONLY ONE BED? They also have a bet, when will Darcy and Bucky get together. Steve thinks Bucky will die before he ever admits to have emotions, Natasha thinks this isolation is exactly what is needed. Natasha also knows that Steve is crushing on her, so maybe being in London in a small apartment with him won't be so bad... if only he knew the feelings were mutual but she's not going to give first... no way.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 27
Kudos: 165





	1. Oh, bother!-DarcyxBucky

**Author's Note:**

> The chapters will be interchangeable, so if you're not so fond on Romanogers but love Wintershock, then you can skip the Nat x Steve chapters. The story does flow cohesively together, but you can read the Romanogers and Winter Shock chapters and it'll still make sense. So, if you go through this story only reading Wintershock you'll only have Romangers mentioned and that's it- vice versa. 
> 
> Hope that explains it well. 
> 
> The title is inspired by the song Fascination by Alphabeats. 
> 
> This Chapter is Darcy and Bucky.

"But he hates me," Darcy sighs down the end of the phone, it is held between her head and shoulder as she packed her luggage case with stuff. "Can't he replace you? I mean, I'm sure he'd rather be around Natasha than me." 

She could hear the familiar chuckle down the line, her best friend finding amusement in her obvious sulk, "Can't. We've already touched down in England, glad you asked yesterday because I had time to change the sheets for you in my room- hope that's okay, Buck took the guest bed a few months back." 

Darcy rolled her eyes, that used to be her room that she bunked in when over at Steve's. "Yeah, that's fine," She grumbled down the line and threw a jumper in rather aggressively. "Thanks for letting me quarantine at your place, I have to self-isolate because of my asthma but Jane is still working so I can't bunk on her sofa anymore-" 

"What happened to Jack?" 

"He dumped me a day ago," Steve hissed with his slip up, "it's fine, I didn't like him that much anyway. Think I was bored and he worked as a mixologist, so he was really good at mixing drinks- I actually learnt some neat cocktail shaking tricks, to be honest," Steve laughed at her rambling. "Anyway, I'll let you and Widow save the world or whatever, hopefully, your bestie doesn't kill me." 

He grumbles something retaining to, "don't be like that." Cause, of course, Barnes wouldn't kill her... he's not like _that_ anymore. But does he hate Darcy? Yes. Will be staying in close proximity to one another be their downfall? Obviously. She's not scared of James Barnes, far from it. She once watched him smack into a glass door, he's far from that Winter Soldier phase, but does his ice-cold glare make her think, fuck... he's gonna literally fuck up my organs and not in the sex way? Definitely. 

She doesn't even know why he hates her. He just does. She's never met anyone that just outright hated her before, normally it takes her talking and getting to know them before they decide that. But nope. He took one look at her five-foot-four frame and said, "Not dealing with that" and talked away... okay, he wasn't so brash with it. But he did snub her when first meeting, looked her up and down, refused to shake her hand and didn't even talk to her. 

Rude. That's what he is. 

"Listen, if you need me just give me a ring- Natasha said we can FaceTime," the slight excitement in his voice makes Darcy smile, she nods even though he cannot see her, "I'll see ya later, Darce, don't let Bucky get to you. I think he'll keep to himself anyways." 

"Thanks, stay safe." He sends her the same wishes before hanging up. 

Darcy packs the last of her things into the small suitcase, closing it and heaving it off of the table. She looks around Jane's apartment with a soft sigh, so much for sofa surfing with her best friend. Jane is holed up in her room till Darcy leaves... what if she just doesn't go? Leaves food outside Jane's door, no... that'd never work. She rolls her luggage to the front door, if only Erik lived Stateside, she'd have a right laugh in quarantine with that man, possibly go to prison but it'd be worth it. 

"I'm leaving, Jane," She calls and sees the door creek open and Jane peeking through. "I love you and miss you already, video chat later?" 

Jane nods with a grin, "Of course, stay safe, Darcy. Sorry, you couldn't be here, but I really can't risk it with you having asthma.: 

Darcy shakes her hand and smiles, "Listen, it's fine. I agree with you, but it just sucks." She blows a kiss towards her friend and Jane does the same before she exits the apartment and heads towards the elevators. 

She loads up her car and gets into the driver's seat, a heavy sigh leaving her lips. The drive to Steve's wasn't as long, in fact, it went by quicker than she would've liked. Hopefully, Steve had the foresight to tell Barnes- hopefully, he hadn't changed the lock since then either. Darcy gets out of the car and grabs her bag before looking up at the old Brooklyn building, she'd been here a few times. It's a quaint little suburb that Steve lives in; it's quiet and peaceful. 

Darcy opens the door and rides the elevator up to his floor, pulling the spar key she has from her pocket and opening the door to Steve's place. It's quiet, too quiet. She narrows her eyes and looks around, softly shutting the door and placing the key in the bowl. The door to the guest room opens, she eyes James for a long moment trying to gauge how annoyed he is by this predicament. 

He doesn't even give her a glance till he's in the kitchen, he then begins to make himself some coffee, completely ignoring her and that's fine. In fact, brilliant. She half expected him to be angry and they'd be arguing every day, this is better. Far better than she imagined because once the coffee was done he went back to his room. They're going to get through this perfectly, they're going to keep to themselves and be fine. It'll be like she's living alone. 

Darcy walks off to Steve's room, pushing the door open and leaving her case by his wardrobe. She smiles at the fact he left a little note posted to the lamp beside the bed: _Darcy, the fridge is stocked, but us SS eat a lot, Bucky will do the shop- I've told him to! Hang in there, kid. Livin' with Buck is easy once you get to know him- Steven P.S he loves triple chocolate cookies, maybe you can win him over with a batch of your own ;) x_

She scoffs, no way is she making James cookies. If she's making cookies they're gonna be all for her and not him. She's not gonna make cookies just to get along with someone, there shouldn't be an incisive to getting along. If anything he should make _her_ cookies and be done with it. 

Darcy hears the tv in the living room click on, she sighs because that's what she was gonna do. She groans again because, of course, Steve doesn't have a TV in his room! Why couldn't Bucky watch TV in his own room? He has one in there, he even has her Nintendo Switch in there because she left it. Debating on not leaving the bedroom, she eventually leaves after five minutes of standing doing nothing. She walks down the short hall to see Bucky sat in the armchair staring at the TV, the news is on and he seems deeply interested in whatever is being said. 

He's in direr need of a haircut and a shave. 

She silently sits on the sofa and is gifted with a quick glance her way, but that's it. 

"Is this... British news?" Darcy finally clicks onto the accent, realising she's never seen these news reporters before and it's all slightly different. 

"Yeah," It's quiet but an answer. 

She glances at him with confusion, "Why are you watching British news?" 

"Because Steve is in the UK and I wanna know if this pandemic is gonna affect their mission." It's a logical and calculated answer, he sounds like a robot when he says it. "By the sounds of it, I think it will. They'll be gone for weeks," he leans against the armchair and crosses his arms, a frown on his face. 

Darcy mimics his facial expression, damn, Steve and Nat are gonna be stuck over in London for weeks? 

"Could be worse," Darcy shrugs, "they could be stuck with someone that hates them." It was meant to be funny, a little dig at their situation. Perhaps something they could laugh about because their rotting luck to be stuck with one another, but judging by Bucky's face he doesn't see the humour of their situation. 

In fact, Darcy had seriously miscalculated the room by it. 

"Sorry, you're not with better company," His voice snaps and the tension returns, "didn't realise I was the worst human to ever exist in your life, oh, wait I did. No need to remind me." His eyes tell a thousand emotions, none of which Darcy has enough time to read because he's standing up and stalking off to his room. 

It's a full minute till Darcy wraps her head around his little outburst. She really didn't mean for it to be like that and she wanted him to know, but she didn't want to anger him further. 

This is going to be a long isolation, for the both of them. 


	2. A World Of Sense- NatxSteve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Natasha are following their target, making sure the man isn't still in the shady business of selling guns to Hydra. 
> 
> Hotel room across from his house? Check. Only one bed-wait only one bed?

Steve ended the call with a small sigh. Perhaps Bucky should've come on this mission instead, he felt bad for leaving Darcy with Bucky. Bucky wasn't even a difficult person to live with, in fact, he's easier than Steve at times. But when it came with Darcy Lewis? Things got complicated for Bucky. On top of getting out of rehab and being his person, he had to find his self again and meeting Darcy everyone- Steve- thought she'd help him. 

She's not one to shy away from anything. She helped Steve out of his shell and even got him into some cool modern pop-culture stuff. So, it seemed self-explanatory to have her meet Bucky. Only it didn't go so well and Bucky refused to hang out whenever she was around. 

Now they're isolating together, this was either going to go well or horribly bad. 

A hand glides over Steve's shoulders and squeezes his bicep before he can look up he hears a pitched giggle, "Babe, get off your phone. We've gotta grab a taxi to our hotel." It's Natasha and he had never heard that giggle before, that's for sure. 

He looks up and she's smiling sickly sweet at him, green eyes shining with amusement at his disbelief at her. It's weird looking at her because of the wig she's wearing; long, wavy and brunette, of course, it suits her but he can't lie about preferring her red hair. He **somehow** tears his eyes away from her face and looks just to the right of her head: _Ah,_ that's why she captured my attention. Their target stands at the security check-out, staring down at his own phone and tapping his foot in annoyance. What could seem like a newly couples public display of affection is actually Natasha telling him their target is on the move. 

"Well, what are we waiting for," without thinking he grabs her hand and interlaces their fingers and walks towards the line of people, he pulls Natasha to his side and wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Hope the weather is nice," He says whilst looking ahead, code for the fact their target is moving towards the Taxi ring. 

It's a full three minutes before they're finally through and following behind, Natasha pulls out her phone and scrolls till she finds the tracker app. Steve hulls their luggage into the boot of a taxi before opening her door and getting in after her, Natasha still looking down at her phone tells the taxi driver exactly where to go before he even asks. 

"We should've hired a car," Steve tells her quietly and Natasha rolls her eyes, "I hate having someone else drive." 

Natasha only tutted quietly before looking back at her phone, this time she's reading texts from Bucky- something about him watching British News. He tries not to invade her privacy too much, despite her not really caring much if he does or doesn't see. He wanted to ask about Bucky, considering Bucky never really wanted to talk about what happened exactly with Natasha, but he also didn't want to know. 

It's a complicated dilemma. 

'Cause he's genuinely curious how his best friend coped in a relationship, what went wrong?- if anything did go wrong- are they only on a break till whatever happens passes? But also he wants to know because it's Natasha and he just wants to know everything about her anyway. She could talk about anything and Steve would listen wholeheartedly, it's a genuine problem sometimes. They'll be mid-mission, trying to be quiet, and she'll tell him about her time at the grocery store and he'll miss his queue to take someone down because he's so engrossed in her story. 

But also having to hear about your best friend and partner- in mission terms, of course, strictly partners on missions; figuratively and literally. They work so well and being 'married' people usually gloss over them, makes doing missions likes this easy... just send in Natasha and lovesick Rogers.- but having to listen to her talk about Bucky might just be the one conversation he would tune out of: no offence, Bucky. 

Natasha elbows his ribs and nods to the driver, they've parked outside of the small hotel and he pays the driver before getting out with Natasha. Quickly grabbing their luggage and pulling both cases inside. They walk up to reception, Steve smiles at Finnick and does a small wave; a 'retired' Shield Agent, he mostly works in places like this, a hotel to cover-up government business. 

"Room under Romanogers," Natasha quirks an eyebrow at that, Finnick pulls out a key and passes it to Natasha. 

"Your room is 304, you have a great view and everything is waiting for you both up there," Finnick drops a wink to them both before looking back at the magazine on the counter. 

They head to the elevator and step inside once the doors close Steve almost, almost relaxes but stops due to cameras. His shoulders feel stiff and tense; he hates having these glasses on his face and digging into the bridge of his nose but the clothes this time aren't too bad. 

The doors finally open and they walk down the dim corridor to their room, once finally inside the hotel room, Steve relaxes. He lets out a small sigh of relief and rolls his shoulders back as he shuts the door with his foot, he pulls the fake glasses off and rubs his eyes with the backs of his hands. There are three rooms; the main living space, it's small with a sofa and a tv, plus a mini coffee station. A bedroom, that Natasha has disappeared off into and he's guessing the en-suite with, hopefully, a bath. 

He switches the TV on and flicks straight to the news channel, "Steve." He looks up at Natasha, who has taken off the wig and is fluffing out her real hair, "thought you should know that there's one bed in this room." 

He sighs and leans back against the small sofa, a frown creasing his brows together. Well, that's not good since there's two of them. Whoever booked the room clearly didn't consider the fact they aren't actually married, that they'd need a double bed. It's not like their target is gonna know exactly what room they're gonna be in, so two doubles would've been fine. 

"I'll take the sofa," He tells her before looking back at the television and Natasha scoffs, "we're not discussing it, by the way." 

She leans against the doorframe of the bedroom and crosses her arms, "Oh, we're not?" He nods once and doesn't even glance at her, "I know you're from time of chivalry, Steve. I know. But we've slept in worse conditions together, so this is the modern world, we can platonically share a bed, honestly, I've been on countless missions where this-"

Steve shakes his head, "It's not about you." He cuts her off and regrets that muttering an apology, "I'd feel more comfortable taking the sofa. Sharing a bed with someone is... intimate to me," she swallows and nods her own eyebrows knitting together. "I respect you too much, sorry. It's just how I am and I know it's annoying, but I also take up a lot of room and I don't sleep much anyway." 

"Okay," she sighs and an amused smile, "you'd be the first to pass on an opportunity to get into bed with this," she dramatically gestures to herself and it makes Steve chuckle. 

"I think you're more upset that you don't get to sleep next to me," It's friendly banter and she huffs a laugh. 

Natasha sits on the sofa with him, stares at the TV for a moment, "Bucky said they're going to be going into lockdown," she mutters from beside him and he nods. "Gonna make this mission a lot harder for us to track him." 

"They're allowed one form of exercise a day," he rests his elbows on his knees, "he doesn't look like the running type of guy. How is he-Bucky?"

Natasha shrugged her shoulder, "Didn't ask. Why?" 

"Darcy is isolating at mine, he doesn't really get along with her and I feel bad for not swapping with him- he didn't ask to, but maybe I should've offered." 

Natasha cringed, "Glad it's you here, I don't think me and him would've made a convincing couple." Steve frowns at that, "What? Say what's on your mind." 

"It's just," he begins and sighs, "you guys looked pretty happy to me a couple of months back and I didn't want to pry, especially Bucky but... I don't know, thought you two would've been _it_ for one another." 

Natasha chuckles and nods, she lifts her legs to rest her feet on the coffee table in front of them. It's a few seconds of her thinking what to say, probably, trying to word her answer in a way that doesn't offend his best friend. 

"I tried doing what you said," Steve tilted his head, "shared life experience" she put air quotes and he snorts. "He reminds me too much of the KGB, I mean, obviously he trained most of us. I went to literal with it, I think, I need someone who just gets... this. What I do and who I am. James is... guarded, a lot like me. I need someone who doesn't have concrete walls up because I need someone to smash mine down, is any of this making any sense?" Natasha chuckled at herself and rolls her eyes. 

Steve nods, "A world of sense." He sighs lightly, "Think that's why I dated Sharon but also ended it," he grimaces and Nat smiles, "Familiar but too... on the nose."

"Yeah, dating the niece of your old crush is kinda weird, Steve." He chuckles and cringes, rubbing his palms over his face, "so, no secret lady then? Not gonna pull a Barton on us?"

He bites his bottom lip and shakes his head, sucking in a breath, "No. I have so much respect for him and Tony, children? (in this economy?) In our life? I couldn't do that. I wouldn't mind someone to share life with, but a family? That's farfetched and being a dad? That's kinda... scary, right?" He looked at her and she nodded, "why are having this conversation?" 

Natasha bursts out laughing and shrugs, "Because we usually have the deepest, weirdest conversations on missions. I tell you stuff I don't think Barton even knows." She doesn't look at him when she confesses that and Steve tries not to smile, "you're kinda dangerous, you have some serious dirt on me." 

Steve nods, "Yeah, can't wait to have some time off to write a book about you." He ponders playfully, "trying to decide if I should get some author headshots done or use a fake name." 

"Oh, yeah? Like Romanogers? Seriously, our names combined?" 

Steve chuckles and shrugs, "Be glad Bucky didn't come along, Bromanoff." 

"One day I'm going to kill you," She watches as he stands up and he nods. 

He stretches and heads to the bathroom, "Looking forward to it." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, let me know what you think of this. Would really appreciate feedback and any nice comments :) x


	3. Tense Situation- DarcyxBucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy is not having a good time in isolation. Especially since she's going stir crazy due to lack of social interaction...  
> Bucky has decided to live out his life in his room and ignore Darcy till further notice.

Three days. How did three days feel like three hundred years? 

Darcy had done everything possible to keep herself active and not bored, but day three came along and she couldn't think of a single thing to keep her occupied. She wanted to talk to someone, her current roomie wasn't an option but everyone was busy. Jane was at work, Steve couldn't answer the call because he's trying to track someone. So she's stuck with her own company and she now understands how annoying she can be. 

Walking out of her room and to the kitchen. James hadn't left his room, as far she knows, she had heard him in the middle of the night and he leaves early in the morning for a run. A part of her felt bad, this is his home and he shouldn't feel like he needs to hide. It sucks that they can't live civilly. She opens the fridge and looks inside only to close it again. This is ridiculous, she hated this. Hated being locked inside. 

She hears his door open, no footsteps though probably wondering why she's staring at the closed fridge. The soft click of his door closing, she sighs lightly because, of course, he'd go back inside instead of trying to get along with her for five minutes. 

"Can I get in there?" James' voice startles her and she nods, stepping away and leaning against the kitchen counters and crossing her arms. It's only eight in the evening and she still hasn't had dinner, she watches as he rummages through the contents of their fridge before sighing to himself. 

"Wanna order take out?" She asks and he side-eyes her, shrugging one shoulder in response. "You can talk to me, I'm not going to bite your head off," she rolls her eyes and looks away because this is more ridiculous. 

Darcy has always wondered why he hated her but never asked because the answer would destroy her- she already knew it. Everyone talks about how easy it is to get along with him, how despite everything he's the greatest person to have as a friend, yet he hates her? Steve GUSHED about how they're SO SIMILAR that they'd get along, but now she's stood in his kitchen and he can't look at her or talk to her; what's that about?

"Sure, sounds good," his voice comes out exasperated. 

Darcy dramatically waves her hands in frustration, "Forget it. I try to be fucking civil with you and you act like it's a chore to even be a semi-decent person to me. So, forget about it. I'd rather starve than order food for someone that hates me.'

She hangs for a second, hoping maybe he'll have something to say or some type of reaction- or apology. Instead, he remained looking into the fridge, his shoulders squared off and tense. Darcy just scoffs and walks out of the kitchen and back to her (steve's) room. Probably, not the best idea to yell at an ex-assassin/Avenger, but she couldn't just not say something. She wouldn't be Darcy if she just allowed him to treat her like that. 

Annoyingly she does wish they ordered food before she blew up because she's so hungry. She lays on the bed in silence, staring at the ceiling- well, more like glaring at the ceiling. She shouldn't have yelled at him, but being cooped up in an apartment with someone you know dislikes you is kinda gonna make you tense beyond belief. 

Darcy's phone starts to ring and she rolled over, sighing when she sees Steve's contact. She braces herself before answering, "Hey, Steve." 

"Buck told me what happened," Straight to the point, as always. "Wanna talk about it?"

She sighed, "I just hate being stuck here. Plus, I just wish I understood why he hated me, ya know? So I can fix whatever it is. So we can maybe be civil. I just feel so alone, Steve, being here and I thought maybe this might help our friendship. Instead, he's been in his room and only comes out when I'm not around." 

Darcy can hear him sigh, "Want me to talk to him?" She mutters a 'no' cause she feels stupid and pathetic. "He understands that you're tense and stressed. He told me to call you just because he knew you didn't exactly mean to yell at him."

"I wish he'd talk to me," Darcy mumbles, "I think I'm going to go, Steve. I'm gonna watch some tv and just relax. We'll speak later, stay safe." He barely has enough time to wish her the same before she hangs up. 

**

2 Hours Later

**

A gentle tap sounds on the door, she frowns and pauses the Netflix show. Another couple of taps happen. 

"Yeah?"

The door creaks open and James stands in the doorway, eyes darting around the room and holding a pizza box in his metal hand. "Um-ordered pizza and got your favourite," He shuffles forward and places the box at the end of her bed and looks at her. 

"You know my favourite?" She frowns but sits up and pulls the box towards her, opening the lid to see it's all corrected- perfect even. Normally, they ALWAYS forget to take off the mushrooms but there's none in sight. 

He shrugs, "It's the blandest pizza order in existence." She narrows her eyes as she looks up at him, his face is unreadable and he simply turns away to leave. 

"Uh- thanks," She calls after him and he doesn't even look at her as she closes her door behind him. 

Darcy picks up a piece of pizza and slowly eats, chewing her food in thought as she stares at the door where he had walked out of. That's probably the nicest conversation they've had with one another, albeit he dissed her pizza order- like his is any better. She presses play on Netflix, she'd think about it tomorrow when she wasn't still angry and confused by today. 

Maybe, this is him trying? Maybe they'd get through this and come out as friends? 

(Short chapter but I need to create context before stuff starts to happen lmao love you all)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think so far :) Thank you for all the feedback so far, I love seeing people get excited over this!


	4. The Bet-NatxSteve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nat is going stir crazy in the hotel room.   
> Steve has taken it upon himself to pick up drawing again.   
> Nat and Steve both start a bet on Darcy and Bucky.

"Four days." Is all Steve hears from his roomie, her red hair in a knot on top of her head and a pair of shorts, plus a black cami as her clothing. "No air-con either, how do the British survive?" 

It's a rhetoric question, Steve doesn't need to answer, but he looks up and watches her pace in front of their balcony doors. Hands on her hips and she's chewing her bottom lip, he's never seen Natasha like this. Antsy. Clearly hating the lack of work, they're not allowed to the hotel, in fact, the entire country is on lock-down. Shops are closing and restaurants are shut. Thankfully, their hotel room looks onto their targets house. 

But he hasn't left, obviously. Curtains are always drawn. 

"What're you drawing?" 

Nat plops down onto the sofa beside Steve, legs folded under her body and she leans over him to see into the small sketchbook. Her red hair pushed into his face, tickling his nose. Steve doesn't have time to flush in embarrassment over the fact he was sketching Natasha by the window, it's a rough sketch but it's easily recognisable as her. Drawing her is easy, he's done it plenty of times; not that he'd ever admit it to her because that can be considered creepy. 

"Huh," Natasha gasps. "You're so bored that I've become your only muse." 

True. She's been his muse for years now, but he chuckles breathily and nods. 

"My only life model, right now. Sorry, I should've asked for permission." She shrugs and lays back against the sofa, legs now across his lap and he rests the book on her calves. 

Pencil still perched in his fingers. "Draw me like one of your french girls." Natasha sighs, dramatically draping an arm across her forehead and peeking an eye open to look at his confused face. "You still haven't seen the Titanic movie?" 

"It's almost three-hours, Nat. Bucky doesn't have the patience for that length of a movie," he shrugs and Nat tilts her head at him. "Well, he lives with me and if I'm watching something he'll sit with me- if he doesn't like it he'll complain. I usually just give Buck the decision, we've watched Star Wars and Lord of The Rings; fantasy and Syfy are his favourite genres." 

The frown doesn't leave her makeup-less face. "So you just sit and watch everything Bucky wants to?" He nods once, eyes cast down to his sketch as he continues to shade her figure. "That's not right. What's your favourite genre?" 

Steve thinks for a moment. He has watched a few movies, himself and Darcy frequent the theatres together. In fact, he once took Clint's children to see Moana because he wanted to see it but didn't want to go alone- Clint can't sit still in a cinema and Laura was pregnant. So he took Cooper and Lila with him. Animated wasn't his favourite though, but he did love all those Disney ones, especially Mulan. 

He actually really enjoyed Horror and Thrillers- he strayed away from Political Thrillers, they hit too much at his reality sometimes. Steve became sheepish, Natasha giggles and pokes him to tell her. 

"Well, I really like horrors." That receives an eyebrow raise, "I know, I know. But, I don't know, myself and Sam watched Get Out in cinema and that just... blew my mind. Then he introduced me to Elm Street and Scream, mostly Wes Craven. I do like foreign horrors, I don't mind subtitles and I can speak a few languages, so I appreciate a good movie no matter the language." 

Natasha nodded slowly and was deep in thought. It made Steve hesitate for a moment, he wasn't sure why. Telling the person you like about something you enjoy, it can be scary and daunting. What if that's Natasha's least favourite genre. 

"You ever watched Russian Horror movies?" A quirked eyebrow and Steve shakes his head. "When this mission is over, I'll show my collection of Russian Horrors." 

Steve smiles and nods, he doesn't say anything after that. Natasha switches on the TV, flicking through the channels and landing on some show about people going to one another's B&B's and rating it. Nat seemed very engrossed in the reality show, Steve wasn't really fussed and decided to sketch her some more. 

***

6 Hours Later

***

"There's no way he's going to be able to make that in three hours," Steve yells in horror, shaking his head at the contestant on Bake-Off. "Look at that, he's got five tiers to make, plus his ganache isn't going right and taking up most of his time." 

Natasha only laughs at his reaction. It didn't take long for these 'day-time' shows to hook Rogers in, he got hooked on Come Dine With Me. Himself and Nat agreeing they would win the couples version. But Bake-Off got Steve riled up. Something about people baking and being in a constate state of anxiety just hooked him in, neither could understand nor explain it. 

His phone started to ring, he swore at the interruption and answered. "Hey, Buck." Voice tight as he stares at the TV, looking at Nat, "Tell me if Matt fucks it." 

"What are you watching?" Bucky asks with a snort of laughter. 

"Discovered Bake Off, old seasons. I and Natasha are against one another, got a bet going on about the winner." 

Bucky chuckles and there's a pause. "What's it like being in lockdown with Romanoff? You still sleeping on the sofa?" 

Steve frowns at the question and walks into the bedroom; bed made from where Natasha had been sleeping the past few nights. Bucky had no idea about his crush, did he? He wasn't that obvious... was he? If he was then even Natasha must know. Which can mean two things; one, Natasha hasn't said anything because she didn't feel the same and didn't want to hurt his feelings or two, she feels the same but wants him to make the first move!

A third option would be that she simply doesn't care about his feelings, knows he likes her, but doesn't care enough to feel either-or about it. 

"It's good. She's getting a bit antsy, we can't leave and our target has stayed home. Yes, I am. It's not comfortable but I'm not about to break my moral code over a bed." 

Bucky just sighs on the other end, "You're so clueless." Is all that's muttered, Steve, scoffs. "Anyway, decided to let you know that last night I ordered Darcy's favourite pizza, had to handpick the mushrooms off, and gave it to her, I'm going to be civil with your friend because it's not her fault she's here- it's yours." Steve rolled his eyes. 

"Well, that's good." Nat yells for Steve, "Bud, I gotta go. Paul is about to judge the cakes, I'll talk to you later, tell Darce I said hey." Bucky manages to say a quick bye before Steve hangs up and walks back into the living area. 

He sits back down beside Natasha, unconsciously putting his arm across the back of the sofa and his fingers graze Nat's bare shoulder. Both too invested in the show to realise how close they are to each other now, he didn't intend to sit as close but he has now. 

"What did Bucky say?" 

"Oh-uhh, he ordered Darcy's favourite pizza as a truce last night. Hopefully, they'll become friends now or be civil during the lockdown." 

There's a brief pause. "He knows her favourite pizza?" 

"I guess," Steve shrugs and looks at Nat, only just not gathering how close their faces are. "I mean, her favourite pizza is pretty basic, it's the meat feast but no sweetcorn or mushrooms. The place we order from always leave the mushrooms though but he picked them off." 

Natasha raises her eyebrows and chuckles, "Wow. He likes her." Steve scoffs and shakes his head, "Steve, he knows her order and picked the mushrooms off. Bucky never did that for me, honestly, our relationship was more physical-" Steve cringed and shook his head, he really didn't need to know that. "Anyway, how many people do you know that Bucky would do that for? Plus, his attitude can be marked as he doesn't know how to talk to her or make a move, so instead, he acts cold towards her. Better than rejection." 

When she put it like that, it made so much sense. Bucky wasn't good with emotions or expressing them, he is getting better but clearly not that good. 

"Maybe this lockdown will do their relationship some good," Steve shrugged and spoke mostly to himself. "I know Darcy was pretty excited to meet him, but then he was a dick and she was hurt by it." He tells Natasha thoughtfully, "they're gonna get together by the end of this lockdown." 

She shakes her head, "Before then. They're going to fuck in a couple of days, get together in... two weeks." 

"NO way," Steve blushes at her abruptness of it all. "They won't fondue during the lockdown, Darcy hates him too much to do that. She'll make him wait for it and work for it." 

"Wanna bet?" 

"Always," Steve smirks. "What's the winnings?"

Natasha thought for a moment. "I win? You give me your credit card and I'm allowed to buy my new winter wardrobe with it." Steve nods in agreement, he had money and never knew what to spend it on. "For you? What do you want?" 

Steve didn't need to think, "You stop setting me up. No blind dates, no numbers." Natasha looks stunned for a moment, "I appreciate it, I do. I just... don't think it's right to go on those dates when I'm not into them." He shrugged and Natasha nods, extending a hand and Steve takes it, shaking it softly in his before looking back at the tv. 

"You only had to ask, I would've stopped." Steve chuckled and shrugged. "Would've nude modelled for your art as your winnings." 

Steve chokes on-air, spluttering as he chokes and pounding his fist on the front of his chest. He feels Natasha stroke and pats his back softly, lightly chuckling at his reaction. "You're not funny. I wouldn't ask that of you." He tells her seriously and Natasha has a profound look on her face, something flashing over her features that he has never seen on her face before. 

"Thank you," That makes Steve confused. "You're really something else, Steven." She leaves it as that before looking back at the TV, Steve follows her movements and watches the TV also. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the patience. My work started back up and I haven't had much time to write, unfortunately. I hope you all like this chapter. Please, leave some comments and maybe a Kudos? Any interaction is welcomed and I love you all. Hope you like where this going :) xxx


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